The Healing Work of Art

In 1968 Detroit Receiving Hospital, through the generosity of Michigan artists and friends of the hospital, began an art collection designed to provide an environment colorful, attractive, and beneficial to patients, their families, and the hospital staff. Today, that collection includes more than a thousand works of art. The Healing Work of Art documents this amazing collection, highlighting the diversity of its holdings as well as its history. Detroit Receiving Hospital's extensive and beautiful collection now consists of the major sculptures pictured on their Web site, as well as eight hundred paintings, works on paper, textiles, and crafts. Over the years, the collection has been broadened by the addition of African beadwork, tapestries from the United State of America, Africa, and Columbia, a site-specific Pewabic tile water fountain, and large photo murals in the Emergency Department. The collection, which continues to grow in scope and quality, retains its original purpose of lightening the burden of illness carried by patients and their families and is a source of great pride to all who work in the Detroit Medical Center. Art enthusiasts as well as those interested in Detroit culture and history will appreciate the look at the collection in The Healing Work of Art.